THE Malaysian prime minister's car stalled on the highway with a flat tyre while on way to the airport after an annual Asian summit, forcing him to get into a security escort car to continue his journey, an official said.

The incident happened on Wednesday, just a few kilometres before the international airport in Singapore from where Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi caught a flight back home, the official said on Thursday.

The BMW sedan carrying Mr Abdullah and his wife, Jeanne, was forced to pull up on the side of the highway because of the flat tyre.

There was no backup limousine and Mr Abdullah and his wife had to get into a bodyguards' car, said the official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity.

The prime minister reached the airport and there was no delay in his flight, he said, though the Malaysian foreign ministry was slightly peeved.

The embarrassing incident came on the heels of another mix-up during the Association of South-east Asian Nations' summit: A private discussion between Asean leaders on the current crisis in Myanmar was broadcast inadvertently on closed-circuit television to the media on Monday night.

A microphone near the table where the Asean leaders were sitting was left on by the host broadcaster, and journalists in the nearby media centre clearly heard the animated discussions, mostly between Mr Abdullah and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. -- AP